Biographies 
Leslie Carothers
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Leslie Carothers received her
early training with Evelyn Le Mone and Tedd Welsch in California. After attending
The San Francisco Ballet School, American Ballet Theatre School and The Joffrey
Ballet School in Scholarship, she joined The Joffrey II Dancers in 1979, and
was invited to join the Joffrey Ballet in 1980. During her nine years with
the company, she danced leading roles in works by John Cranko, Gerald Arpino,
Mark Morris, William Forsythe, Ben Stevenson, Jiri Kylian and Sir Frederick
Ashton. Television appearances during that time included Dance in America’s
Green Table and Petroushka, The Merv Griffen Show, PBS’s A Night
at the Joffrey and CBS Diana Ross Special, Diana.
Since joining Pennsylvania Ballet as a Principal Dancer in 1991, Leslie has danced
the leads in Swan Lake, Coppelia, Giselle, Romeo and
Juliet and The Sleeping Beauty, as well as works by such choreographers
as Lynn Taylor Corbett, Lar Lubovitch, Anthony Tudor, Alvin Ailey and George
Balanchine.
Leslie has choreographed several works for the annual AIDS Benefit, Shut Up
and Dance, as well as co-founding and producing the event, and has taught
extensively throughout the United States.